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When Daniel Knowles He began writing his book about the car industry, the world had been silent. Millions of people were locked at home, unemployment rates shot up, the streets cleared and wild animals returned to the desert center of the cities. The situation was so new that it could be dream that so much pain, death and uncertainty was going to open the door to a new world.
It did not spend much time until we discovered that ‘dreaming’ was the key, which was nothing more than a ground. Two years later, while Knowles ended the book (‘Carmageddon‘, Captain Swing, 2025), “The world economy was booming, traffic had returned to the previous levels of pandemic and oil had prices (maximums) that were not seen in a decade.
There were no other futures to fight for?
A turning point. If two or three years ago, this correspondent of The Economist thought that we lived a turning point, it seems a good idea to return to their ideas to solve the cities crisis: that moment of change has only lengthened.
But … what cities crisis? We can be living A world demographic crisisYeah; But the urban population is growing forced marches: in 2007, half of humanity already lived in cities for the first time. Now we are 55% and will reach 66% before 2050. What crisis is this?
Well, As Rodríguez Seijo said right herea much more sibyline suris: than urban ecosystems “have become large centers of resource consumption, and in production areas and emission of potentially polluting substances.”
And yes, it is true, “since 2000, one of the main pollutants in urban environments, the lead of gasoline, old housing paints or pipes” has been eliminated or reduced; However, “there are many organic and inorganic pollutants that continue to cause different health problems and that cause millions of deaths a year.” That is the true crisis.
A crisis of at least seven million deaths a year. That was what the poor air quality, driven by the transport industry, caused In urban environments only in 2012. Hence, specialists like Knowles argue that “the expansion of the car has gone too far and must be stopped.”
Freen it? Can we stop it? Rodríguez Seijo, Reflecting on the causes that “cities are killing us”he concluded that “the absence of planning” is one “of the great challenges facing urban populations.” That’s where Knowles ideas shine more.
“I believe, without any doubt, that a largely populated city is the best place to live in most cases both for my own good and for that of the planet,” The journalist concluded After visiting more than half a dozen countries. Moreover, “there is no good reason for the sustainable option – living in an apartment or in a good -sized attached house in a neighborhood that can walk, bike and use public transport to move – it has to be so expensive and, on the contrary, live in a huge single -family house and use huge amounts of natural resources is the cheapest option.”
This sounds a bit difficult to implement. And Knowles agree. In fact, as repeatedly defends, we do not have to reproduce Tokyo on each part of the planet. “Nor do we have to start to pieces the highways or impose draconian norms such as the Singapore enrollment lottery.”
Even so, there is one thing that can be done to get cities Be healthier sites to live: Reorient the incentives towards the purpose they should have. There are hundreds of ideas. French taxes on cars according to weight, the Dutch reform to give priority to pedestrians or london congestion rates.
It is definitely to realize that people take centuries Trying to go to live to the cities; that, in fact, they are doing it faster and faster; And that, surely the measure with a more transformative impact today would be to turn those cities into good places to live.
Image | Chris Czermak | Yeh Xintong
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